


But That's My Seat

by rainbow_nerds



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Library, M/M, You're in my seat, get out of my seat, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 16:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8168935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbow_nerds/pseuds/rainbow_nerds
Summary: Enjolras has a very specific seat in the library. It's not too warm, and not too cold. It's close to a socket where he can charge his laptop while he studies and writes essays. It's next to the window, so he can people watch when he needs a mental break.It's his seat.That's why he is a little bit put out (to say the least) When he sees someone in his seat one morning. At least, it's probably a someone. It looks more like a Lump, though.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I don't even know. All details of how the campus works are taken from my own college, and I have no idea if they're accurate for anywhere else. Also I'm fairly sure I know how the majority of the Amis fit into this AU, so there's a chance that there may be another part to come in the future, but who knows?

Saturday Morning.

6:00 am – Wake up.

7:15 am – Lunch prepared and placed in satchel, along with notebooks, pens, textbooks and his laptop. Keys, phone and wallet in his pockets. Time to leave the apartment.

Walk to campus: 15 minutes.

7:30 am – Arrive on campus.

Queue for coffee: 5-10 Minutes.

Drinking coffee: 10 minutes

7:45 am – Queue outside library, wait for opening.

8:00  am – Enter library, swipe student card, Walk up three floors and claim his usual seat. By the window, back to the wall, socket within reach to charge phone and laptop. Not too far from the fans to be too warm, but far enough that there isn’t a draft. Sit down. Take out books, pens and laptop. Study.

Break at 1pm for lunch. Return 1:30. Study.

Leave at 7pm for dinner. Return 8pm. Study.

Library closes at 11pm. Walk home – 20 minutes (Tired after a long day). Eat snack, relax.

12:00 am – Sleep.

And repeat for Sunday. Enjolras had his weekend planned out. After all, it was his senior year and he needed top grades if he wanted to get a position in his firm of choice after graduation. He didn’t think he could stand being an underling in some competitive, cutthroat law firm. He wanted to make a difference, to help people who truly needed his help, and to do that he needed to work with a firm who actually cared as much as he did. So he woke up early, went to bed late, and most importantly, spent his time in his seat in the library.

On that particular day, everything had been going so well. Spinach and tuna wrap in his bag made fresh, coffee made by the nice barista who always gave him an extra shot for free if he looked particularly worried, and wrote little verses on his cup if he was weary. He waited outside the library as usual, and headed up to the third floor. Walked to his seat, and saw a lump of heavy fabric and curly hair resting on the desk. His desk.

The Lump looked up As Enjolras approached, and blinked blearily.

“That’s my seat.”

Enjolras assumed The Lump was human, though the only visible features behind the mass of hair, scarf and gigantic coat were a pair of vivid green eyes, which blinked again, clearly confused.

“Could you move, please? That’s my seat. I sit there.”

The Lump blinked again, and glanced around the library, taking in all of the other empty seats in the area. The Lump looked back at Enjolras, and not breaking eye contact once, placed its head back on the desk, not budging from the seat.

Enjolras huffed. “How did you even get in here? The library just opened, and I was here till closing last night. Did you break into the library and decide you just had to sleep in the one spot I can study in?”

He paused, staring at The Lump, which made no response, other than a vague noise which sounded remarkably like the word “Nerd.” Enjolras clenched his teeth, and bit back a remark which would probably get him banned from the library if he said it aloud, and turned to sit at the next desk over. This desk could still reach the socket, at least, but he couldn’t look out the window to people watch in the moments when he needed a break from the books – at least without seeming like he was staring at The Lump.

Sighing, he took out his books and started to work. Before he had finished reading the first segment of his case study, however, he felt someone watching him. Irritated, he looked over at The Lump, only to see the curly head quickly land back on the table. The same thing happened several times before Enjolras managed to get used to it. He would not let his day of studying be disrupted any more than it already had.

At about 10 am, he stood up to refill his water bottle and go to the bathroom. When he returned, The Lump was no longer there.

Well.

The human Lump was no longer there. Instead, there was simply a large coat, scarf and hat piled on the chair. Enjolras considered moving his things over and taking his seat back, but decided against it. It would just cause another waste of time when The Lump eventually returned, and at least for now he could look out the window without it being weird.

He ate his lunch in the quad, as usual. His roommates got concerned when he stayed in the library all day, convinced he wasn’t eating, so he snapped a quick picture of his food and sent it to them. Almost immediately, his phone buzzed twice in quick succession.

 

Ferre: LOOKS GOOD. EAT MORE. DON’T STUDY 2 HARD.

 

Courf: proud of u boo

 

Smiling to himself, Enjolras finished off his lunch and checked the time. It was still early, so he decided to go get another coffee. God knows he needed it, with the way his day had quickly devolved on arriving in the library. His favourite barista was still on duty, but they were talking to someone at the other end of the counter, so he placed his order with the smiling blonde, and went to wait for his drink.

Slowly, he became aware of the man who was keeping the attention of the barista. He was dishevelled looking, as though he hadn’t seen a bed in a week, and his mess of curly hair stuck up in all directions. Enjolras almost didn’t hear his order being called as he looked at the guy, something vaguely familiar about him, and the way he stood attracting Enjolras almost without his permission.

“Enjolras? This is yours!” The Barista called again, and Enjolras pulled his attention away from the curly-haired boy to take his coffee. When he turned to sit down and drink, he made eye contact with the guy, who winked with a half grin and walked out, leaving Enjolras utterly dumbfounded. The barista, who Enjolras was fairly certain was called Jehan (At least that’s what the stylized letters on their name badge seemed to spell), smiled at him sympathetically.

“Don’t mind R, he’s a bit difficult but he’s a good guy, really. Biscotti? It’s on me.”

And that’s how Enjolras found himself spending ten minutes longer than expected drinking his coffee and getting to know the person who made his coffee each morning. When he eventually made it back to the library, The Lump had returned, but Enjolras found it didn’t bother him too much anymore. He sat down again to study, and by the time he took his next quick break he had forgotten all about both The Lump, and the cute guy in the café. That is, until he got back to his seat, and saw the note. It was written in an untidy scrawl, and Enjolras had a feeling he knew who it was from before he even read it

 

 _Enjolras,_  
_Jehan told me your name, though personally I feel you look more like an Apollo. Although I do think I could get used to referring to you as Enj. Get it? Enj, Ange, same difference. Anyway, I’m fairly sure you know who I am, unless you happened to be staring into a very specific point in space in the café earlier, in which case I Apollogize._  
_Sorry, I couldn’t resist._  
_Anyway, I just wanted to say it was a pleasure having you check me out, and I would like to return the favour someday._  
_Yours in sincerity,_

 _-R_  
He didn’t know what to think of it. On the one hand, the flirting was so extreme, and somehow genuine, that Enjolras blushed deep into his collar while reading it, but the more he read the more irritated he became. He folded up the letter and put it in the back of the book he was reading, deciding to focus on it later, determined not to spend his time wondering what on earth “R” could stand for.  Later came sooner than expected, however, when he found himself unable to focus on his books, his fingers itching to read over the note again, and to figure out who the guy really was.

Finally, after staring blankly at his book for another few hours, he decided to go to dinner early. He’d be starving by the time he got home, but he needed some air. As he stood and began to walk towards the door, he felt rather than heard The Lump move behind him. He had gotten this far by avoiding them completely, so he simply continued walking down the stairs and out of the library without turning around. He was surprised to see that the sky outside was already dimming. It was later in the semester than he had thought.

He wandered into the cafeteria, putting on his headphones rather than trying to contact friends. He usually ate dinner with Combeferre and Courfeyrac, but he was sure they would be busy this early, so he figured music would be a passable alternative for actual human contact. He took a serving of the least unappealing option from the self service counter, slightly surprised by the options they had. He was used to eating after it had closed on weekends, and usually just went to a fast food restaurant down the street, or wherever the others wanted to eat. Out of habit, he send a picture of his food to his friends, and found an empty table. Just as he sat down and began to eat, someone plopped themselves down in the empty chair right opposite him and began trying to get his attention.

He looked up, and saw The Lump. Except, no - It wasn’t just The Lump. It was him. _R_. The curly haired boy who had him so distracted in the café, who had distracted him with such a sincere and infuriating note, who had, apparently, been distracting him for the past eight hours, ever since the library opened. He was just sitting there, grinning smugly.

Enjolras realised he was staring, and quickly adjusted, turning up the volume on his headphones and returning to his meal. Sure, the guy was attractive, and he had a way with words – to an extent – but he was also infuriating, and Enjolras really wanted to just pretend he didn’t exist. Except he was sitting right there, smiling, and staring, as though patiently waiting to be acknowledged. Finally, with only a few mouthfuls left, and realising that there would be no peace until he gave in, Enjolras turned off his music, pulled off the headphones and looked at the guy – at R.

“What kind of name is ‘R’ anyway?”

The guy grinned, and said nothing.

“That’s it? You’re just gonna sit there? Are you kidding me? You take my seat, you take my barista, you send me that note and all you do is sit there? Jesus Christ, you are the most frustrating person I have ever met, and I don’t even know your name! ‘R’ could literally be short for anything. Robert? Randall? Richard? Probably Richard, I mean you do look like a dick to me…”

The Lump – R, he corrected himself – Snorted. Enjolras paused at the hint of a reply. Said nothing. Until, eventually, he spoke.

“Grantaire”

“Grantaire? Seriously? How on earth do you get ‘R’ from Grantaire? Wait. Grantaire. Grand…”  Enjolras stopped speaking, the French he had learned from his European law class last semester catching up with him as the boy laughed.

“You’re an asshole. I can’t believe your name is literally a pun. It fits.”

Suddenly, listening to the laughter from across the table, Enjolras felt the irritation melt away. Laughter is infectious, and before long they were both laughing out loud in the middle of the cafeteria.

They didn’t see Jehan walk in at the end of his shift. They didn’t notice Courfeyrac and Combeferre walk in, having also decided to eat earlier when they saw Enjolras’ message. In fact, they only noticed when all three sat down at their table, and asked what was so funny. Enjolras’ roommates shared an amused look at the expression on his face, which clearly showed surprise at the fact that they were still in a public place.

When Enjolras went back into the library, Grantaire followed him again. He was about to start studying again, when another, shorter note landed on his desk.

 

_You know, opening hours aren’t intended as a challenge. You can take a break every now and then. And not just to eat._

_-R_

 

He paused, bit his lip, and without thinking any further, began to put his things back in his bag. After all, there were still a few weeks till finals, and he had top marks in almost every class. As much as he already hated to admit it, Grantaire was right. They walked out of the library together, and sat down outside as the sky darkened further.

Enjolras may not have made it back home any earlier than usual, but his evening was considerably more enjoyable. As they walked together, in the general direction of Enjolras’ apartment, he turned to Grantaire once again.

“So, you never told me. How did you manage to get into my seat before me?” Grantaire merely smirked and winked again. That wink would be the death of Enjolras.

“Same time, same place, tomorrow?” He asked, in lieu of an actual answer.

Enjolras sighed, but he was smiling under his exasperation.

“It’s a date.”

 

 

 


End file.
